Chapter 23
"Maltzar! Maltzar!" A musical
voice calls in the darkness. I realize it's only my eyelids. I open them. Fi is
over me, in her exquisite human form.
"Hey you..." I say softly,
brushing a blue strand from her porcelain face. I'm in my human form. She helps
me sit up. We are in the courtyard, surrounded by the other tribes. Every
Draghan has been slain and all is quiet and somber. Zelda lays Jade down in
front of the stone slab in the ground. The three other Links stand by. Char is
silently crying and holding up Zuli who is beside himself with grief. Garnet
just looks angry.
"He may still be saved," Zelda
says, "if you merge into one again."
"But the Four Sword Pedestal is in
the forest!" Garnet snaps. "It would take too long!"
"Use this." Zelda touches the
slab beside her.
"Will it work?" Garnet asks
doubtfully.
"Fi," Zelda lifts Jade's Four
Sword. She takes it on his behalf. The four of them stand before the stone and
together thrust in as one. Glowing like stars, Char, Zuli and Garnet fall back
and into Jade's body. In a flash they are one, and Link lurches, gasping for
air.
"Link! Link, look at me!" Zelda
pulls him into her lap. Blood is gushing again from his wound. She holds it
tight and begins to pray in a quick, desperate voice.
"Hey,"
"What?" She asks, on the verge
of tears. Link smiles.
"You are perfect."
"I would have saved you if I
was!" She snaps.
"You freed us, you freed everything,
and everyone. And for that, I am proud." Tears run from his eyes. "I
love you. I love you. I-" And all the breath leaves him.
"Link! Link? LINK! NO- NO! COME BACK
COME BACK!" She crumples over him, sobbing painfully. I am in shock. He
died. Fi is crying on my shoulder. I pat her, feeling empty.
Suddenly Zelda sits up, her expression is
calm as if she has made up her mind on something. She brushes his hair, and
kisses his lips. Laying him on the ground, she whispers something to him, then
rises to face me and Fi.
"Come," she beckons though her
voice is shaking. We rise and come to her holding hands. "I realize how
unfair I have been as a Goddess." she says, collecting herself. She takes
our hands. "Please accept all I can give."
Something rushes into me, something warm.
It rides up my arm and nestles in my chest. Both Fi and I gasp as our blades
are extracted from our chests. They hover, glowing. Then suddenly their light
rushes into us leaving them dead. They clatter to the ground soulless. I feel
different, like a shackle has been lifted off my heart. Fi looks at me and I
laugh with joy. Her skin is still pale, but she has brown hair, light brown
hair. Her outfit is the same but I can see her breathing. Really breathing. We
are human.
Zelda falls to the ground.
"Whoa! Zelda! Hey!" I crouch
down. "Zelda!" I shake her. Fi checks her pulse. We wait. She checks
again- and again. She listens for her heart and sits up suddenly.
"She's dead!" She gasps.
"What?" I breathe.
"She sacrificed herself," Fi
says, her blue eyes shining with tears. "She knew all along she would have
to give us her life!" She covers her face, sobbing. "I should have
known! I should have stopped her!"
"Hey!" I take her into my arms.
"They are together now. Hylia and her hero. They will be waiting for us on
the other side."
"How can you be sure?" Fi asks.
I touch her chest, now free of the gem that imprisoned her. I can feel her
heart beat.
"I just know." I smile, a tear
running down my face. "Sheesh." I wipe it away. "Haven't cried
in like ever! Not used to this
business."
Fi kisses me. We hold each other sobbing
hard.